Shedding Light on Why Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Help the Heart

There's a lot of excitement about the therapeutic benefits of omega-3 fatty acids but hardly a word about the health damaging effects of excessive omega-6 intake. Both fats are required for sound health but not in large amounts. In a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3, the physiological requirement appears to be about 1 to 2 percent of total calories. Beyond that there's no added benefit and likely considerable physiological damage because both kinds of fats are highly reactive molecules and need to have their action controlled.

My first awareness of problems associated with excessive omega-6 intake involves a skin ulcer that developed on my shin in 1993. I didn't know it but I was consuming excessive amounts of mayonnaise and cold pressed soybean oil at the time. I was using these ingredients in vegetable dip and salad dressing. It required therapeutic doses of vitamin-E to alleviate the condition.

But cutting out mayo and soy oil was not enough to get my omega-6 intake down where it should have been. Since my discharge from the service in 1972 I've been consuming all natural peanut butter almost daily. Each sandwich contained about 8 grams of omega-6. In November 2009 I heard Dr. Bill Lands say, "...there are some really interesting foods that have more omega-3 than omega-6; but not all. Did you know that peanuts have 4,000 milligrams per 28 gram, one ounce serving of peanuts? 4,000 milligrams of omega-6 and one milligram of omega-3. The United States is the land of peanut butter. Grow our kids. Make our kids healthy. Whoops."

Whoops indeed! When I learned how much omega-6 was in peanuts I quit consuming peanut butter. Despite what I thought was a healthy diet, over the past decade I've been losing flexability in my legs. The stiffness and pain made it impossible to run and difficult to get up from a chair. Recently, I noticed an increase in muscle strength in my legs. In addition, the pain associated with flexing my legs has subsided. I am able to run and jump again, get up from the floor, and stand up from a chair without thinking about it.

The presentation I mentioned earlier was on day two of a was on day two of a workshop entitled Nutritional armor for the warfighter: can omega-3 fatty acids enhance stress resilience, wellness, and military performance? Dr. Lands spoke on "Why Omega-6 Fat Matters for Your Health.

I used to believe that excessive sugar intake was the major cause of clogged arteries. But after listening to Dr. Lands I'm not sure sugar has that much to do with it. Here's a link to the lecture: http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=8108 You can drag the timer button slightly to the right to the 12 minute mark where Dr. Lands begins speaking. If you are unable to play the videocast on you computer, you can read a transcript of the lecture at http://www.amazon.com/tag/health/forum/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1EO24KZG65FCB&cdThread=Tx241KS54K89FO7&displayType=tagsDetail

David Brown of MT 8:45AM February 27, 2010